Albemarle County Public Schools, Charlottesville, VA*

About

Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS), Charlottesville, VA*

ACPS serves more than 13,200 students in grades pre-K through 12 in Albemarle County, Central Virginia, in 16 Elementary schools (preschool-5), 5 Middle schools (6-8), 3 Comprehensive high schools (9-12), and several alternative and charter schools.

• Homepage: http://www2.k12albemarle.org. Facebook page. Twitter: @k12albemarle, #acps
• Dr. Matthew S. Haas, Superintendent of Schools, Albemarle County Public Schools, 401 McIntire Road, Room 345, Charlottesville, VA, 434-296-5826.
• Message from the Superintendent, July 2, 2018; First 100 Days Listening Tour: What I've Learned
  
• Former Superintendent, 2006-2018: Dr. Pamela R. Moran, About the Superintendent, Pamela R. Moran, Ed.D. Superintendent Pam Moran's Blog; Pam Moran on Twitter -@pammoran; A Space for Learning, Pam Moran's personal blog.
• Leadership Team (organizational chart );

Selected blogs from the Superintendent and the Leadership Team

• A Year of Extraordinary Learning, June 14, 2014
• Makers By Design, May 31, 2014
• Design 2015: Transforming Teaching and Learning in 3rd Grade, September 20, 2013
• A Summer of Learning in Albemarle Schools, July 28, 2013
• The New Face of Learning: the UVa School of Medicine
  

Documents

Strategic Planning -- First developed in 2005. Commmunity and stakeholder review underway since Summer 2013 for Horizon 2020 (2013-2020)..

• Horizon 2020, 2013-2020 Strategic Plan (PDF)
• Horizon 2020 - Plan Summary: One student goal and five objectives
• Video: The Future Speaks: Horizon 2020 Strategic Plan, Aug 5, 2013
• Video: Horizon 2020: Part II, Nov 25, 2013
• Division Strategic Improvement Plan. ACPS Strategic Improvement Plan Summary Report, December 11, 2014 (PDF of slide presentation).
• Expanding Our Horizons
• Video: Expanding our Horizons: Community Conversations about our Children's Future, February 2013
  
  

Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA) - Links evaluation with professional learning around the district's curriculum and instructional goals

• Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA) web page
• Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA) Overview (PDF)
• TPA Rubrics for 2013-14

Mission

and

Vision

Vision, Mission, and Values: Unleashing Each Student's Potential

Our Vision : All learners believe in their power to embrace learning, to excel, and to own their future.

Our Mission: The core purpose of Albemarle County Public Schools is to establish a community of learners and learning, through relationships, relevance, and rigor, one student at a time.

21st

Century

Learning

Framework for Quality Learning

• District Instructional Philosophy
• Lifelong-Learner Competencies
  
• Framework for Quality Learning (FQL)
• Framework for Quality Learning PDF
• A System Model for High-Quality Teaching and Learning
  

Professional Development/Learning

• Instructional Coaching in ACPS:
  • What to expect from your coach.
  • Interview with Supt. Pam Moran on Instructional Coaching
  • #ACPSCoaches Weekly -- a great weekly paper.li resources for instructional coaches in Ablemarle County and everywhere from #ACPSCoaches.
  • Albemarle Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction Institute 2014 (Performance Task Scoring Academy) - Invitation, Agenda, ACPS Performance Tasks, #ACPSCAI on Twitter
  • Albemarle Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction Institute 2013 - Performance Task Rubrics in Google Drive, Assessment Resources
    
  • Pathfinder: Project-Based Learning - This collection of PBL frameworks, examples, & resources can help frame learning environs
  • edutopia video: Instructional Coaching: Seeding District-Wide Innovation
    
• ACPS's Seven Pathways to ensuring Life Long Learner Competencies for Every Child
  • Seven Pathways Resources
  • Seven Pathways Course
  • Seven Pathways: "Beginning"
  • "Seven Pathways, 3 Stories" Slide Presentation
• New Teacher Academy, August 5, 2014 -- Exploration Activity resources.

High School 2022 is a district-wide initiative to design, refine and deliver the future of high school for graduates in the class of 2022 and beyond.

• High School 2022 website
• High School 2022 Program Guide (PDF) - This documents articulates the district's commitment to expand student learning experiences to include "internships, independent studies, mentorships, service learning opportunities, and passion projects".
• Graphic representation of High School 2022 Student Experiences
• Presentation "A Community Conversation: #High School 2022"
• Video: High School 2022 - A Day in the Life
• Profile of a Virginia Graduate - In 2017 the state of Virginia Board of Education is developing a Portrait of a Graduate to inform future state graduation requirements.
• Twitter: #highschool2022
  

Articles

• HQPBL Case Study: Albemarle County Public Schools (blog and video); Case Study booklet (PDF), April 3, 2018
• Albemarle County Schools’ Journey From a Makerspace to a Maker District, By Mary Jo Madda, EdSurge, May 2, 2016
• US DOE Case Study of Albemarle County Public Schools, June 2015. Video Interview of Pam Moran, Superintendent, and Becky Fisher, Director of Educational Technology and Professional Development.
• Designing Classrooms & Schools for 21st Century Learners, Blog by Bob Pearlman, Partnership for 21st Century Skills Blogazine, December 1, 2014
• An Interview with Dr. Pam Moran, Superintendent, Connected Educators
• Interview with Superintendent Pam Moran on 21st Century Education and Strategic Planning, EdLeader21 public site
• Making Teachers “Makers” of Their Learning, by Superintendent Pam Moran, edSurge, January 21, 2014
• Maker Movement Reinvents Education, By Louise Stewart, Newsweek, September 8, 2014
  
• Interview With Superintendent Pam Moran On Instructional Coaching, by Larry Ferlazzo, September 28, 2011
• Personal Best: Top athletes and singers have coaches. Should you? By Atul Gawande, New Yorker, October 3, 2011. Highlights ACPS Instructional Coaching program.
• Smartphones, Inquiry, and Falconry: The Role of Technology in Supporting Science Education, By Tony Borash, @tborash, August 31, 2014
• #ACPS Challenge-based learning: Storify collections of tweets and posts related to challenge-based learning at several different ACPS elementary schools. By Tony Borash, @tborash.
• ACPS experimenting with SOL alternatives, by Tim Shea, Charlottesville Tomorrow, June 27, 2013. SOL refers to the Virginia Standards of Learning.
• Academy boom: County's specialized science high school programs push project-based learning, By Laura Ingles, cville weekly, 8/20/14
• Building a “Startup Culture” In Albemarle County Schools, By Chad Ratliff, ACPS Assistant Director of Instructional programs, edSurge, Oct. 1, 2013
• Albemarle School Board Focuses on Future, Talks Strategic Plan, June 3, 2013, NBC29.com
  
• 8 Steps of Leading Learning Forward: A Case Study of Pam Moran’s Educational Leadership, blog by Jonathan Martin, January 31, 2012
  
• Inspiring and Informative: Lessons Learned Visiting Albemarle Schools with Superintendent Pam Moran, blog by Jonathan Martin, August 27, 2012
  
• 3-D Printing Initiative in U.S. School Attracts International Visitors, April 3, 2013, Education Week
• Albemarle County Students Among Best in State on SAT Test Scores
• Albemarle Schools' Maker Spaces Program Gets National Attention, NBC29.com, December 12, 2013

Videos

profiles Albemarle County Public Schools with videos and blogs

edutopia videos::

• Flexible Classrooms: Providing the Learning Environment That Kids Need
• Social Media: Making Connections Through Twitter
• Maker Education: Reaching All Learners
• Instructional Coaching: Seeding District-Wide Innovation

edutopia blogs:

• Insight and Outsight: 8 Strategies to Catalyze District-Wide Learning (Blog Post): Superintendent Pam Moran
• Making the Case for Social Media in Schools (Blog Post): Jim Asher, Prinicipal
• The Basics of Open Technology (Blog Post): Ira Socol, Innovation
• A Student Maker and the Birth of a Startup (Blog Post): Nick Anglin
  
• Creating Space for Risk (Blog Post): Michael Thornton, Multiage Elementary Teacher

Videos

• Video Interview of Pam Moran, Superintendent, and Becky Fisher, Director of Educational Technology and Professional Development (41 minutes)
• Albemarle's Student Innovation Expo at UVA's iLab, December 5, 2014
• We Make Makers. Join Us! - ACPS Teacher Recruitment Video
• Tomorrow is Today: Dr. Pamela Moran at TEDxAshburn, November 21, 2012
  
• The Future Speaks: Horizon 2020 Strategic Plan, Aug 5, 2013
  
• Horizon 2020: Part II, Nov 25, 2013
  
• An Introduction to the Framework for Quality Learning

Videos on Learning and Teaching in ACPS schools and classrooms:

• Makers in ACPS: Teachers and students from Stony Point and Red Hill share their experiences in a maker-focused summer school
• Movement in math class: 4th grade students engage in movement in connection to their their math curriculum
  
• Enhancing Science through Engineering and 3D Printing: Sutherland Middle School teachers Robert Muncey and Eric Bredder share their STEM education in collaboration with the Smithsonian and the University of Virginia
• Multimedia Presentations: Students and teachers at Walton Middle School share their experiences in developing multimedia presentations
• AVID: A Closer Look: Teachers and students at Jouett Middle School describe the impact of AVID’s system for student learning
  
• Model Congress: Senior American Government students at Western Albemarle High School participate in a simulation of Congress
• Music Industry: Monticello High School students engage in work designed around the music industry
• Sci Tech: Integrating technology into science classes with Albemarle High School’s Tony Wayne
• Flipped classroom: Western Albemarle students connect with chemistry using a flipped mastery classroom model
• La Academia makerspace @ southwood

Learning

Spaces

&

Maker

Spaces

Designing Up Albemarle Schools - Special website/resources on the ACPS Design Journey, 7 pages of resources

Design 2015

The ACPS journey to Design 2015 begins with our objective to prepare every student to graduate citizenship, workforce and college ready with a set of skills that will positively impact our community, quality of life, and economic vitality. Project teams consisting of grade-level teachers or department staff were invited to submit proposals requesting funding grounded in interdisciplinary learning. Grant categories included: 1. Single classroom impact; 2. School and organizational impact; 3. Division and organizational impact.

• Design 2015 Grant Criteria
• Space Transformations
• Design 2015 School Site Projects
• Prezi: Our Journey to Design 2015 (10-year journey) by Jennifer Butler
  
• Seven Pathways to our Lifelong-Learner Competencies. Collectively, these 7 Pathways move students from where they are to where we, as a division, expect them to be: 1. Choice & Comfort; 2. Connectivity; 3. Differentiation/Universal Design for Learning (UDL); 4. Instructional Tolerance; 5. Interactive Technology; 6. Maker-Curriculum; 7. Project-Based Learning
• Seven Pathways, 3 Stories Slide Presentation (Stories not Included)
• Design 2015 Professional Development Strands: 7 Pathways

Makerspaces in ACPS

• edutopia video: Maker Education: Reaching All Learners
• Monticello High School’s Learning Commons
• La Academia makerspace @ southwood
• Maker Movement Reinvents Education, By Louise Stewart, Newsweek, September 8, 2014. Highlights Albemarle County Public Schools